Category Archives: Pantry

Thankful Thursday and bad news on the knee.

Posted in Blood test, California, cooking, Pantry, Walking by

I’ll start with the update on the knee. It’s a complete ACL tear and will need surgery. There’s nothing to be done by leaving it alone. But at least the MRI gave me the facts and I can go forward. The PC doctor referred me to the ortho surgeons and I’m waiting to get the initial consult. Recovery is 3 -6 months so it’s not quick, jump up and start doing things. Of course, I’m upset by it all but I’d rather know what I’m dealing with and then deal with it. So no walking, swimming, etc. I have to call PT and get that set up too. In the meanwhile, I’m trying to be uber careful and not have my knee buckle again. Certainly depressing but I’ll get thru it.

I haven’t gotten my light chain numbers back but expect them today. That’s the other thing I’ll have to pause the Velcade as I’m certainly not doing surgery, rehab, and Velcade. I’ll message Dr. L tomorrow so he has the updates.

So thankful things are:

The MRI was revealing and now I know what’s wrong with the knee.

B and I went to Louis Vuitton and I got my replacement Neverful. I waited 2 years to do this so I don’t think of this as unfrugal or impulsive. Did I need a LV, no but it was near and dear to me so there’s that.

A delicious soup of all kinds of veggies, broccoli, potatoes, onions, spinach, and carrots all whizzed together and then cheddar cheese added. Yum.

The rain we’ve been getting to help keep California out of a drought.

That I know every day is a gift and that our health is always the most valuable thing we can ever have. Even though the Torn ACL will take a while to heal after surgery, generally it is a complete recovery so that’s what I will look forward to and stay off of step stools.:(

The pantry is getting used up and it’s about half of what it was.

Frugal Friday and other random things.

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, California, cash envelopes, decluttering, Pantry, prepper pantry, Walking by

Another low-spend week. We spent $53 at Holiday Market. It’s way more expensive than TJ’s or Winco but it’s also 1 minute from our house. We used to walk down all the time but now we drive mostly because our driveway is very steep. So going down is fine but coming up is not. After I figure out what’s going on with the knee I may start going up and down to strengthen the muscles. We’ll see, I’ve been saying that for years and haven’t done it yet. ( haha).

We filled up the VW too. And we went on a coffee date.

I did order some things from Amazon. A different knee brace, some hangers to add to the ones I got my daughter for Christmas, cream for my knee, and 1 set of candles. The 4pk of candles I usually buy from Blue Corn Beeswax were out of stock. I also ordered the tuna in olive oil in a 12-pack because it’s easier than going to get them at the store. the price is almost the same as Winco, maybe 10 cents more. What I’m doing is using a virtual envelope for Amazon and giving myself $100 a month for household things. I won’t include the tuna as that’s food.

Saturday is my MRI and after that, I plan to go to Trader Joe’s and get a few things. Eggs, bread, cream, bagels, maybe some chips and a few frozen meals to add to the freezer. Last week we had the Kung Pao Chicken and it was very good.

Next week I have my labs and the appt with the PC about the next step with the knee once the MRI comes in. I guess I would hope that it’ll just be PT to help strenghten it but it’s anyone’s guess at this point. That’s it for the week. I doubt I’ll be going to the pool or the gym till I have a plan in place. Although, if the knee brace stabilizes my knee I will go do upper body weights. I’m pretty depressed about it all since I hate not being able to be active. But as always I’ll get through it.

We have a good size load in the back of the VW to drop off at Goodwill and Assistance league. B will do that today. It’s always a good feeling to great rid of stuff. I did put all the Mountain House dehydrated meals in the bag for the food bank and I’ll do that either today or next week. I still have some other food out in the ‘barn prepper pantry’ so I need to get that first. I do not plan on restocking any of that out in the barn. I’m just going to have my pantry boxes and what I have on the Ivar shelving unit. ( That’s for the pressure canned goods and jams, salsas, and tomato sauces.) I’ll always have some stock up pantry because I’ve always bought in bulk starting back in 1975 but I won’t do the same thing as when the pandemic hit. Having bulk rice and beans etc just makes sense for how I cook plus I hate thinking about what I need so I’d rather buy bulk and be done with it for months at a time.

2024

Posted in California, camping, cash envelopes, cooking, decluttering, frugalism, minimalism, Pantry, simplicity, social security, travel, Uncategorized by

I’ve said before that I don’t make resolutions for the new year but I do like to have some goals to work toward. First, be frugal and work within our limited income from SS. We only have so much and although it does cover all our basics including our mortgage it doesn’t leave a lot for projects. I have added cash envelopes that are for projects so that will help when I can add to them.

Second, find a new to us RV resort that we can go to within a 3-hour drive. I think we like Napa so much because it’s close and it’s a beautiful area. There are lots of trails, restaurants, wineries, shops, etc to explore. Plus we like just hanging out in the RV park because we can read, nap, do crafts etc. From the park we an walk to historic Napa and even Oxbow.

Third, besides our regular Rubi trips, we’d like to visit a National Park that we haven’t been to. We’ve been to a lot of National Parks west of the Missisippi but not all. We’d probably keep it in California so that might be Sequoia that we haven’t been too.

Of course, keeping up with healthy eating, walking, doing weights,swimming, all goes without saying as important.

Practice gratitude daily. I think being grateful for whatever it is you have keeps the desires away especially when you realize you have everything to be happy and content right now. We all need shelter, food, warmth, clothing but on what level is for each individual to decide.

Continuing to be minimal and do regular declutterings. Right now I’m going thru each room and deciding what things I want to maintain and take care of. I’ve bagged up 3 grocery bags already. I also decluttered my budget books from 2023 that I don’t need anymore. I’m working on going thru my pantry and getting a bag of things I haven’t used for the food bank. If I haven’t cooked it or have a recipe for it I’ll give it to the food bank.

So a few goals to work toward. What about you? Any ideas?

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, meal planning, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

It’s been one of those up and down weeks. Overall, a good week but still some down time. Maybe because my routine with swimming and walking being interrupted, I felt out of sorts.

We did a walk this morning and it was very nice. No one there and it was just light so no stars to speak of. I got around twice so I’m pleased with that. Tomorrow I plan to swim although it will be short, I’m thinking 20 minutes to see how my knee feels after that. Next week being Thanksgiving will also change things up.

Frugal-wise, I’ve been home more so less gas in the cars being used. Plus we’ve doubled up going to Costco with my infusion shot so that saves gas too.

Costco was $400 but that included B’s case of Sierra pale Ale and about a $100 in nonfood. So actually pretty good. I bought extra holiday things like smoked salmon, biscotti on sale, extra butter, and a lovely English cheddar that I plan to make Welsh Rarebit with, and I can’t remember the other stuff but it was a good haul. I also went to Winco to get 2 gift cards for my son and his friend for Christmas. Food wise I spent $18 on some ramen, chocolate, and boxed stuffing for Thanksgiving.

Other than that no other shopping. B and I are going out this morning to get a few plastic pots so I can repot some houseplants, and then to Target to get shower curtains, and then over to Panera for a coffee date.

I’m planning on making a pizza tonight and then the rest of our meals this week will be out of the pantry or freezer to make room. We have a lot in there. On Tuesday I used one of the shelf stable chicken chili verdes for burritos and it was delicious. I aslo had Ranch Gordo Pinquitos on the side. The food pantry is getting used and that’s a good thing.

We have rain on the way tonight and for all tomorrow but I think we’re ready for fall to kick into high gear with cooler temperatures and rain. So far it has been a glorious fall.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgets, California, cooking, Flylady, Halloween, Pantry, seasonal things, Walking by

A rainy simple Sunday. I’m grateful for the rain. Fire season is safely over. It’s hard to sense whether we are in for a hard winter or mild. With global warming, I guess all bets are off. Still, it is such a strange October to have temperatures close to 90 degrees. That’s never happened before.

We started out with our walk and it hadn’t started raining yet. It was quite balmy in fact. A very nice quiet walk. Most of the Canada geese are gone and the 3 little white duckies are gone too.

I came home and got the KBS bread maker going with a whole wheat sourdough. It seemed to not display the menu right and I had to do a reset that B figured out. Not sure what is the problem but I’ll have to check how long before it is that I can return it if necessary. It did go to the dough cycle after the reset. ?? humm, we’ll see. Anyway, it’s doing it’s first rise in the bread pan.

I did some weights at the gym and didn’t stop anywhere except our PO box. I’ve had 2 things lost this week and yesterday a VERY expensive Ebay item(christmas) it said delivered but no one came up to the house. So I’m freaking out a little as to where it is but can’t call the post office till Monday. Our post office has gone down hill this last year with things continually being lost, damaged, put in wrong boxes etc. I’m not sure what their problem is. But also, the person from E bay was not very nice and essentially said too bad. But I will open a dispute if it doesn’t show up. Anyone have an ebay item lost/not show up and get a dispute resolved. If it was just a few bucks I wouldn’t mind but this is in the 100’s. A very specific item.

My house tidying up is almost done. I just need to finish the kitchen. There’s one small load of laundry going. I vacuumed yesterday so that’s done. this week with Flylady, it’s the bedroom zone. I plan on moving all the rest of my canning jars out to the garden shed as I don’t plan on doing anything soon. I know I want do at least one other shelf stable meal, but haven’t decided what yet. We did love the white bean stew. Plus, it was vegetarian so B could have it.

Another blogger was showing some Halloween decorations she had out and I said I’d post a few photos of my 1940’s collection.

This one is probably 1950’s.

Vintage are items are VERY pricey as I’m guessing a lot of it got used and then tossed.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Pantry, swimming by

It’s that time of year for our annual fall bills to come in so our savings are taking a hit. Fortunately, our AAA house insurance and California Fair plan only increased about $10o+. I can’t pay the whole thing at once so part will go on the cc till next month. Then Allstate was due and that went up over +$300. WoW!! Next will be property tax and which also went up but we can hold off on that till early Dec. And Barclay’s Triumph motorcycle insurance too.

So lots of BIG bills and it’s definitely stretching our limited finances.

In other areas though, groceries have only been about $160 and the $60 was splurging at Nugget market for fancy lunch stuff after my Velcade shot. I wanted to have some deli things available on Thursday and Friday so I didn’t need to think about lunches. Oh, and a piece of chocolate cake was involved too!!

Last night we had the leftover loaded baked potato soup and a salad for dinner. Tonight is going to be a homemade pizza.

I plan to swim tomorrow and then when I get home I’m going to pressure can Lentil soup. It should be an easy recipe as you don’t have to presoak the lentils or cook for 30 minutes.

This coming week I plan to try do these dinners;

*freezer spanakopita

*spaghetti sauce meat/ marinara sauce ( I want to make a big batch of meat sauce to freeze).

*panko shrimp and jasmine rice with veggies

*chicken noodle soup from the pantry( the soup base is pressure canned with out noodles, you add the noodles later)

*tofu something, maybe burgers or scramble or tacos

*mushroom frittata with salad

*falafel with tahini dressing and sourcream in pita bread

I think having a meal plan helps with keeping things running simply and smoothly. I don’t set a particular night for each meal, just when it fits in.

I still need to forage around the chest freezer and see what else needs to be used.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, freezer cooking, husband, Myeloma, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

It was a frugalish week. After swimming on Tuesday I stopped at TJs for a few things like eggs, sandwich bread, odds and ends, and wine. I need to go there tomorrow and pick up some stuff to take camping. There’s not a TJs in the whole of Lake Tahoe. There is a Grocery Outlet though. I spent just over $100. Other than that no grocery shopping. I think the way to save money(and it is working) on groceries is to stay out of Safeway, or even our Holiday Market is pretty high priced. Of course, sometimes I need something and it makes sense to get it here rather than driving out to get it. So I think I’m going to plan regular TJs, Winco, and then Costco for the bigger bulk items like coffee.

Today is B’s birthday so we’ll all celebrate with some cake and take out pizza. Another turn around the sun!! Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

We had a nice walk with only a few people there. It does really bug me though when people do not use a flashlight when it’s still dark-ish out.

Then I came home and made a loaf of pumpkin bread to freeze. I had enough pureed pumpkin left to make a batch of pumpkin muffins too.

Later I’m heading into town to go to CVS to hopefully pick up my dexamethasone. There’s been some confusion about where to send it and now I’m not sure if it’ll be there. I figured I’d better go in and check rather than call. The infusion center called and I have all my October dates scheduled. He wants 4 weeks on and 1 week off. Not sure why but in the long run it probably doesn’t matter. We canceled our mid October camping trip because we were going to leave the day I have an appt with the Dr. and then infusion after. There’s no sense going if I’ll have just gotten the shot and then Dex. We had a reservation for 4 nights so 3 of those days wouldn’t really make sense as those are the days I’m not 100%. That’s ok. We’re keeping the Napa reservation in November. I’ll start my next cycle that week so it’ll just need to be later in the week as we’re booked Sun- Thurs. Although, I think we’ll probably leave Wednesday so I can get the appt on Thursday.

Our fall weather is definitely here. Very cool mornings, nice days with warmish temperatures.

Here’s how the pantry is looking. I haven’t done another pressure canned meal as I don’t have a lot of room. When we get back I’ll make something to add. just look at the color of those tomatoes!!! The applesauce is from our tree this year. I still have half a box to do. All the rest of the tomatoes even the green ones I’m putting in a box in the closet to ripen. As they ripen I’m just bagging them and putting them in the freezer to process at a later date.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, home stuff, instant pot recipes, Pantry, Uncategorized by

Wow, we are still getting some rain!! The poor folk though, out at Burning Man are in white mud up to their ankles. I have never been drawn to Burning Man. Too many people and a very desolate environment. We had rain this morning and I’m guessing they’re getting some more up there.

We did have a lovely walk in the rain with no one there.!!!! I only did 2x because of the knee but it was hard to stop. 😦 It seems every time I start to make some headway like walking faster and going a little farther something happens and I’m back to ground zero. Oh well, I guess that’s life.

I’m heading out to the gym and I’ll finish this later.

I got back from the gym, and boy is it ever raining. I only did arm weights at the gym so it was only 25 minutes. Then I went over to the Briarpatch Coop for a few things. This is our new co-op that just opened and it’s very nice. It’s more convenient than Safeway, with a better atmosphere too. The prices are higher but for a few things, I don’t mind. I wanted the Califia creamer and Califia almond milk. My daughter is lactose intolerant so we’ve been getting this and it’s quite good. Then I picked up some russet potatoes for a baked potato night this week.

Tonight I plan on doing a pantry dinner of chicken pie with pressure canned chicken pot pie mix. Then I’ll make a spinach pie with spinach, gruyere, onions and eggs.

My Instant Pot died last week. I was making chicken broth and had it started and then when I went back to check it it was off. I thought maybe it tripped the electrical outlet but it hadn’t. I tried another plug and nada. I unplugged the back plug and still nada. I don’t plan on replacing it. I really only use it for a few things and I can use the slow cooker for those things; beans, broth, stew, etc. I wonder if anyone else has had theirs just quit??

I have the pool on Tuesday, then the doctor on Wednesday and then the gym on Thursday or Friday. I’m working on my next Sashiko pattern and I should get the fabric this week for my Japanese block quilt. I plan on doing Sashiko embroidery on that too. I like having some kind of handwork to do probably a throw back from the Waldorf school days.

Frugal Friday

Posted in California, cooking, frugalism, Pantry, Uncategorized by

I canned 8 pints of pintos. So if I figured it per jar maybe .25. Maybe less, but I figure a 2lb bag at Winco to be @ $2.00. Now I buy my beans in 25# bags so I don’t know what the breakdown would be. So right now I’m set on beans as I just did black beans. I had done cannolini and garbanzos.

I didn’t need to get gas in the Santa Fe today so I’ll need it next week on my next gym day.

All our meals were eaten at home except for a lunch date with B at the Thai place. That was under $20. I would like us to do one lunch date every week or two. Our meals have been garden inspired. Lots of tomatoes: so caprese salad for 2 nights, a shrimp salad with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced raw tofu with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and Italian herbs. Another night grilled Greek lemon chicken with salad( tomatoes of course).

Unfrugal, Barclay needs a crown to the tune of $1500 so that will have to go on a CC and be paid next month or sooner depending on cash flow. Well, you got to take care of your teeth at our age, well, any age really.

Here’s my latest obsession: Sashiko Japanese embroidery. It is very meditative and I absolutely love indigo blue.

My stitches have a long way to go to be more even but that’s not the kind of thing I worry about or stress over.

I plan on putting a piece of canvas cloth between the layers and using this as a hot pad of sorts or maybe just on the table.

I ordered another one from Etsy and I think the quality is much better. If you want to try your hand at it go to Etsy there are lots of designs.

Today is a yogurt-making day which is a huge money saver. I can get 2 qts of yogurt for about $1.00 each. Now partly that’s because I’m buying the organic milk from Costco so it’s about 3.50 for a half gallon.

Going to the gym in Auburn is free through Medicare supplemental so that’s always a win. The equipment isn’t as nice as the Rec centers but is adequate.

I’m starting a pantry/freezer challenge to use up some bits and bobs of things. I don’t want to use my winter prep pantry stuff but I do have a lot of misc food stuff that should be used. So since it’s almost the middle of the month I’ll plan on that for the rest of August.

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, California, cooking, freezer cooking, Pantry, seasonal things, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by
  1. The washer is all installed and I’ve done 3 loads of laundry already. Yay for a laundry machine. It’s definitely been upgraded from the model we had and seems to have a larger bin capacity.
  2. Last night B and both kids went to see Oppenheimer so I had the house to myself, a real rarity these days. I didn’t do anything different than normal but it was nice to be here alone. They said the movie was outstanding so if you’re into going to movies add this one in.
  3. This morning the park path was like a freeway. Ugh, at least the AH seems to be on sabbatical again. Still, when there are 12-15 people at 6am, I’m wondering ‘WHY????’ I guess it’s summer but also there really isn’t anyplace else in this area with a paved path. There is one other park ( there might be 2)in Auburn that has a paved path but I’m not sure if it’s a loop or not, since I haven’t been there. We have tons of dirt paths especially along the American River but that’s not, to me , for daily walking. When we first moved here I walked all the back trails alone. In hindsight, with mountain lions around, that may not have been the smartest thing to do although I did eventually get an alert whistle and spray to carry.
  4. This morning I made zucchini bread, banana bread, ratatouille and, pickled jalapenos.
  5. I’m not going back to the pool till next week probably Tuesday. Monday I have a fasting blood test for my PCP to check thyroid and lipids.

Yesterday I also made turkey chili to freeze. I was going to can it but I didn’t have the amount needed( like 3lbs) so I just froze it. It was delicious though. I ordered more freezer containers in the 16 ounce size. This is very convenient way to stockpile food.

There is something amazing about growing your own food and preserving it. The ratatouille was all either grown by us or from the farm.